Day 1, Saturday

Today our trip to Cat Island, Bahamas, begins. See this site for more information about Cat Island. We left Greenville at 8 AM. On the way Hope mentioned that she had that feeling that she forgot something. I usually get that feeling too. But this time I didn’t have it and I told Hope that I was certain I had remembered everything.

We flew out of Charlotte to Nassau at 11:30 AM. We expected to fly from Nassau to Cat Island via Cat Island Air at 3:30 PM. However, Cat Island Air is out of business and no one bothered to tell us. Luckily, a nice agent of SkyBahamas managed to find us a flight and we made it to Cat Island on time.

Upon arriving at New Bight International Airport, we were to look for Omar, the taxi driver. However, the locals at the airport told us Omar was not a taxi driver, and he wasn’t there anyways. Someone else gave us a ride. The ride cost $50, plus $10 because we stopped at the grocery store. The grocery store was very basic. We got a few essentials, like mac n cheese and pbj.

After more than 30 minutes of driving north through the island and many of the settlements, we arrived at the Boat House. The Boat House is a raised house with a huge wrap-around porch. The inside consists of just two rooms: the main living area complete with kitchen, couch, tv, and library, and the bedroom and bathroom.

See pictures of the Boat House here. The official Boat House website is here. And I've got a video tour of the Boat House here.

After we freshened up, we took our bikes, Hell On Wheels and Lady Luck, and rode about 200 yards to the Pigeon Cay Beach Club (PCBC) and introduced ourselves to Ned, the owner of PCBC and manager of the Boat House. Ned is very cool, very laid back, and very island. He gave us some information and we headed back to the house. I've got a video tour of PCBC here (remember, we were not official guests of PCBC, so the tour is very basic).

Next, we took a walk over the dunes to check out our private beach. The beach was amazing. The sand was white like powdered sugar, and the water was crystal clear. Stepping over the dunes took our breath away every single time. I've never seen water look so blue and so perfect. See pictures of the beach here. I've got a video tour of the beach here.

For dinner we made mac n cheese and hot dogs. Quite the island affair!

Finally, we made use of the outdoor shower and then started to watch a movie, Double Jeopardy. By this time it was dark and we were tired. Remember how I said that I had not forgotten anything? Well after my shower I realized I had forgotten to pack something important – my underwear! It turns out, though, that in the Bahamas all you really need is a bathing suit, so just call me Commando Chris from here on out!